Disclosure To Jewish Religious Court Waives Privilege As To Information From Social Worker

A Toms River, New Jersey state Superior Court judge last week ruled that former yeshiva teacher Yosef Kolko, who has been criminally charged with sexual assault on an 11-year old boy, has waived the confidentiality of statements he made to a social worker. The Asbury Park Press reports the details.  Originally the victim's father reported the assault to a Bet Din (Jewish religious court) which employed a Brooklyn social worker to interview Kolko to determine whether the charges were credible.  Kolko signed a waiver allowing information from the interview to be reported to the Bet Din.  Now state court judge Francis R. Hodgson has ruled that this amounted to a waiver of the privilege that would otherwise attach to the information. The judge said in part: "I think that it is not a small factor to be considered that [the Bet Din] is a parallel justice system ... within a closed community."